Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga Prove That the Classics Are
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VOLUME 8, NUMBER 2 TONY BENNETT AND LADY GAGA PROVE THAT THE CLASSICS ARE AGELESS Untitled-2 2 5/27/15 11:56 AM Steven Klein 418 Sheridan Road Highland Park, IL 60035 847-266-5000 www.ravinia.org Welz Kauffman President and CEO Nick Pullia Communications Director, Executive Editor Nick Panfil Publications Manager, Editor Alexandra Pikeas Graphic Designer IN THIS ISSUE TABLE OF CONTENTS DEPARTMENTS 18 This Boy Does Cabaret 13 Message from John Anderson Since 1991 Alan Cumming conquers the world stage and Welz Kauffman 3453 Commercial Ave., Northbrook, IL 60062 with a “sappy” song in his heart. www.performancemedia.us 24 No Keeping Up 59 Foodstuff Gail McGrath Publisher & President Sharon Jones puts her soul into energetic 60 Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute Sheldon Levin Publisher & Director of Finance singing. REACH*TEACH*PLAY Account Managers 30 Big Band Romance 62 Sheryl Fisher - Mike Hedge - Arnie Hoffman Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga prove that 65 Lawn Clippings Karen Mathis - Greg Pigott the classics are ageless. East Coast 67 Salute to Sponsors 38 Long Train Runnin’ Manzo Media Group 610-527-7047 The Doobie Brothers have earned their 82 Annual Fund Donors Southwest station as rock icons. Betsy Gugick & Associates 972-387-1347 88 Corporate Partners 44 It’s Not Black and White Sales & Marketing Consultant Bobby McFerrin sees his own history 89 Corporate Matching Gifts David L. Strouse, Ltd. 847-835-5197 with Porgy and Bess. 90 Special Gifts Cathy Kiepura Graphic Designer 54 Swan Songs (and Symphonies) Lory Richards Graphic Designer James Conlon recalls his Ravinia themes 91 Board of Trustees A.J. Levin Director of Operations in his final directorial season. Josie Negron Accounting 92 Women’s Board Willie Smith Supervisor Operations Ravinia Associates Earl Love, Wifredo Silva Operations 93 ON OUR COVER 94 Ravinia Administration Steve Dunn Web and Internet Development June 16 – June 21: Alan Cumming For advertising information call 847-770-4621 (photo: Steve Vaccariello); June 22 – June 28: 95 Ravinia Events Sponsors Performance Media & Gail McGrath & Associates, Inc. Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga (photo: Steven is a Woman Owned Business Patron Information/Phone Numbers Klein); June 29 – July 5: Bobby McFerrin 96 Published by Performance Media/Gail McGrath Associates, Inc. All contents are copyrighted ©2015. All rights reserved. (photo: Carol Friedman); July 6 – July 12: 97 Severe Weather/Park Map Nothing can be reproduced in any manner, whole or part, James Conlon (photo: Todd Rosenberg) without written permission from the publisher. 100 Ravinia Calendar For advertising terms & conditions, visit www.performancemedia.us 105 Program Notes ® Lead Classical Sponsor: Ravinia is supported in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. OFFICIAL PARTNERS: Discover Card, Official Card • Hyundai, Official Vehicle Midtown Athletic Club, Official Club • Steinway of Northbrook, Official Piano Stella Artois and Goose Island Beer Company, Official Craft and Import Beer Sponsor Terlato Wines, Official Wine Sponsor • United Airlines, Official Airline #SOCIALUPGRADE your summer with Ravinia’s ticket contests. Keep an eye on our social sites for information on how you can win FREE tickets to Ravinia this summer. JUNE 16 - JUNE 28, 2015 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE 11 A MESSAGE FROM RAVINIA Ravinia truly has so much to celebrate this season! Plensa that have come to the festival in the past decade. All In 2015 Ravinia celebrates the accomplishments of an artist these works together greatly contribute to the beauty and and friend who has helped shape so much of our recent his- unique park setting of Ravinia. tory. James Conlon has programmed his final season as music As a young piano student, Ramsey was told to abandon his director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s residency at drive to become a classical pianist because no major orchestra Ravinia with specific composers and pieces that call to mind would hire a black man. This year, however, he achieves his the supreme performances that have defined his association sidelined dream by making his CSO debut as both composer with the festival from his earliest days as a guest conductor in and soloist with his Concerto for Jazz Trio and Orchestra, com- the 1970s. As music director, he gave us a multiyear, complete missioned by Ravinia for this milestone. With such a backstory, Mahler symphony cycle; the complete Mozart piano concer- it’s no wonder that Ramsey has been so influential in developing tos; high-quality opera performances, including Mozart in Ravinia’s REACH*TEACH*PLAY education programs, which the Martin; a deep concentration on the music of the Russian reach 75,000 people through such initiatives as El Sistema– masters; and his hallmark “Breaking the Silence” series, which based student orchestras and a free family music school. turned our attention back toward the music plunged into obscu- We’re also continuing to celebrate gains in expanding and rity by the Holocaust. Each issue of Ravinia Magazine this developing Ravinia’s audience. We’ve made lawn admission summer will feature a Conlon focus. to all classical concerts free for children and students through We’re also celebrating the 80th birthdays of two Chicago college, and priced most Pavilion seats to all CSO concerts legends who both happen to be Ravinia Life Trustees—fine- at only $25. We’ve expanded our programming over the past arts sculptor Richard Hunt and jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis. several years to bring new listeners to the CSO, even as audi- Richard started Ravinia’s sculpture collection in 1971 by ences for classical music continue to wane worldwide. We contributing his own massive outdoor work Music For A took a page from the CSO’s own handbook downtown to While. Ravinia has commissioned several other pieces from create movie nights, such as this year’s amalgam of Disney’s this artist whose works grace galleries around the world, and Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 (the original soundtracks of which Richard remains influential in the selection and placement of were performed by the Philadelphia and Chicago Symphony new additions, such as significant pieces by Fernando Botero, Orchestras) as well as Danny Elfman’s music from Tim Burton Lynn Chadwick, Boaz Vaadia, and (most recently) Jaume films. Recognizing that movie scores are often the first place This year Ravinia is celebrating the 80th birthdays of two men who have had (and continue to make) a lasting impression on the festival, sculptor Richard Hunt (left, on his Music For A While) and jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis (above), who his making his CSO debut on August 8 with the world premiere of his Ravinia-commissioned Concerto for Jazz Trio and Orchestra. JUNE 16 - JUNE 28, 2015 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE 13 A MESSAGE FROM RAVINIA where young people hear the sound of a symphony, orchestras around the world—from New York to London—are program- ming film music to attract new listeners, especially families, to the live symphonic experience. With one of the most extensive chamber series in the world, Ravinia also makes music affordable and accessible with its acclaimed $10 BGH Classics series, through which patrons In his final season as music director of the CSO’s residency, James Con- can experience such headliners such as cellist Alisa Weilerstein lon will be recalling the major musical thrusts be brought to the festival and jazz pianist Cyrus Chestnut with the Turtle Island Quartet over the past 10 years, culminating in Ravinia’s first complete concert in our intimate 450-seat, state-of-the-art venue for less than the performance of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman. cost of a movie. This series also includes performances by the fiercely talented fellows of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute As a not-for-profit, Ravinia earns about half the money it (RSMI), young professionals who hone their performance needs to make all this work through ticket sales. The rest comes skills with the talented guest artists and educators who perform from private donors and corporate sponsors. And, of course, at Ravinia. we can never thank—or celebrate—them enough. We send a This year the Martin Theatre welcomes superstars at the pin- special welcome and thank-you to Allstate for signing on as nacle of success, from soprano Karita Mattila to pianist Yefim Ravinia’s first Lead Classical Sponsor. Thanks also go to the Bronfman, as well as acclaimed artists who are about to take generous and practical leadership and largesse of our Board the world by storm, such as pianist Igor Levit. This 850-seat of Trustees and Life Trustees; the Women’s Board, the most hall—the only building that dates back to Ravinia’s 1904 con- generous funder in Ravinia’s history; and the Associates Board, struction—is considered one of the finest venues for chamber coming off its most successful Music Matters fundraiser ever. music and recitals. Maybe we don’t think about it much or say it aloud, but it Of course, we cannot get through this message without cel- bears decalring in print that every season (indeed, every day) at ebrating this year’s “showmance” of Tony Bennett and Lady Ravinia is a “celebration” of the one before, a thankful nod to Gaga. Not only were their two concerts the fastest selling in the musical continuum that has grown here amid the trees and Ravinia history, but they also exemplify the liquidity of genres breeze since Ravinia was established in 1904. So many genres. and the co-mingling of audiences that is central to Ravinia’s So many artists. So many geniuses with their so many master- identity. And what better time to bring such a glamorous focus to works. Not to mention more memories than any scrapbook can the Great American Songbook than in Frank Sinatra’s centennial contain.